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Charlie Sheen: A roundup of his 'winning' apologies

September 20, 2011 | 2:06
pm

Charlie Sheen is winning -- back the public, that is.

As the former "Two and a Half Men" star and Warner Bros. near a $25-million settlement, Sheen seems to be going on an apology tour that reeks of damage control and casts the onetime warlock in a tiger blood-free light. "The Tonight Show," "Today," the Emmy Awards, "The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen" and Twitter were a few places hit with torpedoes of reparation.

The lessons: Sheen hit rock bottom when he was fired from "Two and a Half Men"; he thought he could return to the CBS show despite his behavior and lashing out at creator Chuck Lorre and costar Jon Cryer; he wishes the sitcom the best, along with its new star Ashton Kutcher; and he still doesn't really know what happened during the rampant media frenzy. Sheen also said he's seeing his kids a lot more, and he's "mending fences" with ex-wives Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller.

Is it too far-fetched to believe that the former "rock star from Mars'" public mea culpas were brought on by a humbled reaction to his roast? Or could they be part of the Warner Bros. settlement? (Is there a clause that says "Thou shalt apologize for your 'Sheenanigans'"?)

Whatever the reason, here's a roundup of the former Adonis DNA-clad actor's introspective appearances in which he put his infamous public outbursts to bed. The even-keeled interviews are a far cry from the one-on-one webcam sessions in "Sheen's Korner" that flooded the Internet last March. They also have people noticing his calm and apologetic demeanor rather than his erratic streams of consciousness.

CBS boss Les Moonves said he was "very pleased" with the premiere's ratings. "You don't declare victory after one week, but the number was pretty high. In New York City alone, it beat the Giants!"

On Sept. 16, NBC aired Matt Lauer's interview with Sheen in which he talked about his "manic period" and described his new emotional state as "a lot calmer and a lot mellower." Sheen said that last winter "was like being shot out of a cannon into another cannon and just shot out of the next one."

"Looking back on it, I don't think I would trade it, but there's portions of it I might have amended a little bit, the tiger blood/Adonis DNA stuff like that it was just so silly and people took it so seriously and I figured 'all right, I continue to give the people what they want.'"

In his Sept. 15 interview on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," a well-groomed Sheen admitted that he was out of control and was actually "losing." He says he would have fired himself too.

"[The media frenzy] was like a runaway train that I was kind of the reluctant conductor of and it just kept going." Jokes and metaphors.

Is Sheen winning back fans and making new ones with this turnaround? Sound off in comments.